ABC has officially ordered Sundays with Alec Baldwin, a talker based on Baldwin’s radio show and podcast, Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin. The first episode of the show, featuring interviews with Jerry Seinfeld and Kate McKinnon, airs immediately after The Oscars on Sunday, March 4 at 11:35p. “I’m excited about this show and grateful to ABC for taking a chance on me in what is, admittedly, a crowded field,” said Baldwin. Eight additional episodes of the show will air later this year.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Comcast jumped in with a $31 billion takeover bid for UK’s Sky, topping an offer from 21st Century Fox. Disney had agreed to buy a number of Fox assets in December, a deal that was to include a stake in Sky. Comcast chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts called Sky “a perfect fit” with its 23 million customers and presence in the UK, Italy and Germany.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The NBA on TNT features a special Inside the NBA presented by Kia on Thursday, March 1, with the studio show – Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley – joining the cast of Saturday Night Live for a special appearance from the show’s Studio 8H at Rockefeller Plaza. Later in the week, Barkley hosts NBC’s SNL for the fourth time.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The 2017 finalists for the Scripps Howard Awards were announced with The Washington Post leading the pack with five. CBS News/60 Minutes, Frontline PBS, The New York Times, The Kansas City Star and the San Francisco Chronicle each had two. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 6 at 2p via a live show on Facebook and Youtube.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Lena Waithe, creator of The Chi, and her production company Hillman Grad partnered with Sight Unseen Pictures to develop and finance independent projects that identify and champion new voices underserved in today’s marketplace.
(Source: Cynopsis)

TNT tapped writer/producer Graeme Manson (Orphan Black) as showrunner for Snowpiercer, a futuristic thrilled base on the film of the same name. Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs star in the series co-produced by Tomorrow Studios, Turner’s Studio T and CJ Entertainment.
(Source: Cynopsis)

National Geographic partnered with creative platform Tongal for its first late-night series, WILD After Dark (wt). The 30-minute episodes feature short-form content created by the Tongal community, including experimental animal-centric short stories from people around the world. Project launched on Tuesday with an open call for submissions at tongal.com/NatGeoWILD.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Netflix greenlit a third season of international reality competition series Ultimate Beastmaster. The next edition features over 100 competitors from nine countries and new hosts including Tiki Barber and Anderson Silva.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Sundance TV and Sundance Now partnered with Blumhouse Television on true crime docuseries No One Saw A Thing (wt). The six-episode series examines an unsolved and mysterious death in the American Heartland and the corrosive effects of vigilantism in small town America.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Apple ordered a series from M. Night Shyamalan and British TV writer Tony Basgallop. The half-hour psychological thriller, yet to be titled, received a 10-episode straight-to-series order.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Ali Kahn’s search for Cheap Eats continues in a new season of the Cooking Channel series on Wednesday, March 21 at 10p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Mother/daughter duo Mina Starsiak and Karen E Laine tackle bigger home renovations and take on riskier house flips in the third season of Good Bones, returning Tuesday, April 3 at 10p on HGTV.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Original docuseries The Cowboy Way returns to INSP on Thursday, April 26 at 8p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Shadowhunters is back for season 3 on Tuesday, March 20 at 8p on Freeform.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino again serves as tour guide through the universe on The Planets and Beyond, debuting on Tuesday, March 20 at 10p on Science Channel.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Paramount Network premieres I Am Paul Walker this summer. Doc explores the film career, life and tragic death of the actor.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Smithsonian Channel launches into space with four specials. Billionaire Space Club airs Sunday, March 25 at 8p, followed by Earth from Outer Space at 9p. The following Sunday, April 1, Finding Life in Outer Space bows at 8p, followed by Leaving Earth: Or How to Colonize a Planet at 9p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Mercedes Mason (Fear the Walking Dead) booked a series regular role in ABC’s straight-to-series light crime drama The Rookie… TNT cast Denis Leary (Rescue Me) in Season 3 of Animal Kingdom… Feed the Beast’s Lorenza Izzo is set to recur in the fourth and final season of Hulu’s Casual, while Joy Bryant (Parenthood) joins the upcoming fourth season of HBO’s Ballers in a recurring role.
(Source: Cynopsis)

On the ABC pilot front, Toby Kebell (The Female Brain) landed the lead in pending drama Salvage…. Camille Guaty (Daytime Divas) nabbed a series regular role in the Get Christie Love reboot… Tisha Campbell-Martin (Dr. Ken and My Wife and Kids) will be a regular on Untitled Holmes drama.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Luna Lauren Velez (Dexter) and Pallavi Sharda (Pulse) booked series regular roles in CBS drama pilot Murder…Daren Kagasoff nabbed a series regular role on NBC drama pilot The Village…Brandon Mychal Smith (You’re the Worst) was cast as the male lead in NBC comedy pilot Like Family.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Nickelodeon welcomes Thomas & Friends to its roster of preschool shows with hour-long special, The Adventure Begins, bowing Monday, March 12 at 10a on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr.(Source: Cynopsis)

Disney Junior has begun production on The Rocketeer. The animated adventure series follows Kit, a young girl who becomes a superhero and has the ability to fly via a rocket-powered jet pack.
(Source: Cynopsis)

YouTube yanked a video from conspiracy theory monger Infowars that alleges the Parkland, Florida shooting was a “deep state false flag operation.” It was the second strike Infowars has received about the high school tragedy; the first suggested grieving activist students were paid “crisis actors.” The channel will be unable to post new content to YouTube for 2 weeks. Once more and they’re out -YouTube has a 3-strikes-and-you’re-banned policy.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Logan Paul, who also had his wrist slapped for bad behavior on YouTube, is back in business, his ads re-enabled. The vlogger’s advertising revenue was suspended on February 8, after he posted a video of himself tasting a dead rat. It’s the second time the video-sharing site took sanctions against him.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The Snapchat redesign might have caused a social media shudder, but first-time installs rose 55% week-over-week for the week following the changes, according Sensor Tower, from 589,000 to 911,000. The redesign went live on February 6.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Conde Nast is launching the Next Gen Influencer Platform, curated in part by its editors. The goal is to identify “brand safe” influencers with hefty social followings for advertisers. “By combining the insight and influence of our editors with the exponential impact of our curated group of external influencers, we are offering clients an unparalleled level of measurable engagement and ROI, across all platforms,” said chief revenue and marketing officer Pamela Drucker Mann. The database will be hosted on Conde’s Citizen Net platform.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Funny men Steve Martin and Martin Short, who are on a national comedy tour, announced that their stop in South Carolina is set to become a Netflix special. Titled after their live show, Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life, the special was taped last week in Greenville.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Sundance Now premieres Liberation Day on Thursday, March 8. Documentary explores what happens when music and politics merge.
(Source: Cynopsis)